December 12, 2006

Coaches have different philosophies during the pre-conference portion of the season.

I break down the college basketball campaign into four parts -- pre-conference, conference, conference tournament and big dance. You get to learn about your team's strengths and weaknesses during the pre-conference schedule. Some coaches prefer to have several tough tests to prepare for league play.

Others load up on cupcake city. They do it to build their team's confidence, giving them a chance to pad their record before league play.

Every season I have some fun, picking out which team deserves the cupcake award. There were a number of candidates this season, and again, I do this to poke fun.

The winner is down in Hattiesburg, Mississippi this season. Larry Eustachy is trying to build up the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles program. Simply said, look at this schedule:

BELHAVEN, TENNESSEE-MARTIN, ALABAMA STATE, SPRING HILL, SAM HOUSTON STATE, SAVANNAH STATE (TWICE), SOUTHERN, REINHARDT COLLEGE, MC NEESE STATE

To Eustachy's credit, Southern Miss. Had Alabama, Bradley and Auburn on the schedule.

Congratulations to the Golden Eagles. They are winners of my cupcake schedule award for 2006-07, baby!

Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in 1979. Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.